A Rutherglen woman is calling on tougher criminal checks on migrants after her son was brutally murdered by a Polish national.

Elsie Guidici’s son Mark was murdered by Marek Kepczynski in June 2013.

The pair met at a party in Toryglen, at which Mark, who worked in Poland, translated for Kepczynski.

Kepczynski punched father-of-one Mark, kicked and stamped on his head before strangling him.

Kepczynski (46) was sentenced to at least 14 years in January last year for the gruesome crime.

Elsie, who stays in Skye Road, has been left absolutely devastated by her son’s death and still thinks about Mark every day.

And she believes the tragedy could have been prevented if there were tougher checks on those coming in to the UK to work.

Now Elsie has organised a walk in Queen’s Park this Saturday (April 18) at 11am to raise awareness of the fact that many people feel the current checks done on migrants are not enough.

Elsie (62) told the Reformer: “Mark wasn’t violent at all, he would walk away from an argument. He was as good natured a person as you could ever hope to meet.

“This walk is to raise awareness that there’s no checks in place just now and violent criminals can come over our borders without any checks taking place whatsoever.”

Following Kepczynski’s conviction, Elsie tracked down the Pole’s girlfriend who alledgedly informed her he had been in jail three times in his native country.

Elsie added: “If there was something in place, this could have been prevented.

“I don’t think violent criminals should be allowed to come here and murder our children. Anyone who commits such a violent crime should be sent back.”

Elsie also started an online petition, calling for tougher checks on immigrants coming in to the UK. After the petition gained 800 signatures, she presented it to her Rutherglen MP Tom Greatrex, who raised the issue in Parliament in November last year.

Tom said: “It’s important that the border authorities have information about people with violent criminal records.

“That is something that other countries have and that the UK doesn’t have but the Home Office should be looking at.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “People entering the UK are checked against a range of police, security and immigration databases for details of any UK or known overseas criminal record.”